"Every body holds a memory of a thousand moments" the press release of the Body Talk exhibition suggested enigmatically. I had caught wind of the show a few weeks ago, and being a figurative painter myself, I managed to scramble aboard the project at the last minute as a guest artist. So, on the evening of the exhibitation's preview opening, it was with eager anticipation that i made may towards Brighton.

Kensington Street was cold, dark and empty as i made my way towards the Argus Lofts building's basement. A light from the open door of the basement spilled into the chilled December night and looked very enticing. Descending the stairs made me feel as if i was entering some kind of secert grotto, the metal steps ringing out under my feet. But once you arrive in the basement, you are greeted by a cavernous space that looks big enough to comfortably accommodate a game of football. A labyrinth of pipes crawls about not far above your head, and the walls reminded me of those walls of the London Underground which have posters pasted up and ripped off over and over - a fascinating pattern of paper, glue and rust beginning to build over the years.

Towards the far end of the room a bunch of people were scattered about near a table laden with plastic cups and an assortment of bottles, their chatter mingling with music - the dark tones of Massive Attack were pulsating from a sizeable sound system in the corner, I picked up a plastic cup of my own and sauntered off on my magical mystery tour of exhibition.

The walls were dripping with sumptuous art work, like jewels oozing down from the ceiling. The lighting illuminated the art, making them jump out from the canvas and paper or, captured in three dimensions, the danced in suspension from the pipes. The body was explored in all different kinds of media, and the mood of each artist's work was strikingly different - some were sensual, others powerful, some simply beautiful and still others more challenging. Some choose to work with bright and bold colours that sang out loudly while others preferred quieter, moodier tones.

Peeking over the edge of my plastic cup, I was particularly capativated by the sparkling and sumptuous Buddha paintings. As I moved past ladies the glittering eyes almost winked at me. I found my own two ladies lurking in the second room, where a whole fresh troop of creatively rendered bodies awaited discovery.

Tottaly boxed body art is checking in and spacing out at Brighton's most rock 'n' roll hotel this month as part of thr Festival.

Fleshcapes takes over two floors of the Hotel Pellirocco to showcase new works by local figurative brush fiends, Scott Chambers and Grant Dejonge. Grant, who work from the Sugar Glider gallery in King's Road Arches, has already achieved artistic notoriety for trapping his naked, sweating subjects in a purpose-built wooden box with glases lid, photographing them flipping out and then painting the results. "All my pictures are of people I know - the band Kinky Journo, drag queens, even a theatre company -  who are natural performers and already have an idea of their self-image," he says. "I photograph them in the dark from a mezzanine floor, with just one halogen light in the box that makes it very hot and creates a lot of a shadow. it gives a real intensity to the paintings." Grant takes the photographic influence to his art a step further by making several negatives of each painting using white spirit and newspaper and then collaging  the results into a single, multi-layered mirror image. "A negative is not a picture, but it has all the necessary information to be one. Basiclly, I use that to turn a picture back into itself."

Both Grant and Scott, who uses oils, chalks and inks to create three-dimensional 'impressionistic' life drawings, have been sweating it themselves to produce hot-off-the-canvas work for what must be the coolest exhibition space in Brighton